[yakev724]

wanted to wait till the end of the match to post, but what a strike! Sagna is one of my favorite players, been waiting forever for him to score...

[yakev724]

Originally Posted by yakev724

wanted to wait till the end of the match to post, but what a strike! Sagna is one of my favorite players, been waiting forever for him to score...

See, this is why I should've waited. Shutting up now...

Edit: only disappointment today was arshavin, otherwise team was a bit sloppy at times, but for the most part on point.

[Captain Chaos]

I'm not one to rush into criticism with any player, but Arshavin is beginning to reach the end of my tether now. He cost enough and takes enough in wages to perform at a much higher level than he has been doing this season, and even if he's unable to recover form for a physical reason it would be nice if he at least looked like he was trying and was a bit bloody bothered about it!!

[225_AB]

Arshavin is going through a bad spell, clearly no confidence but to suggest he is not trying is harsh. In fact he is probably trying too hard and so tense and making things worse. He also at times will try the difficult pass that may not come off. Still has the 3rd highest assists in the premier league. He will be back.

[Captain Chaos]

Trust me I'm all for seeing his talents again, and for as long as he wants to use them, but you can't really call 20-30 games 'a bad spell' can you? That's half a season and he's supposed to be a key player!

I watch Bendtner, who's also struggling for form AND playing out of position, chasing everything that's within 30 yards of him into the corners and pressing the player in possession. I watch Arshavin walking around when he hasn't got the ball waiting for it to come back to his feet before he tries another impossible shot/through ball.

It's like Eboue last season (timely comment, right before the Wigan home game..!) - since 'Boo-gate' he's been a different character and you can see that he lifts those around him with his workrate even if not much comes off for him personally.

It's easier to forgive Eboue too, he's only on a quarter of Arshavin's £6m a year salary..

All of which makes it look like I'm on his back, which I'm not. I'd just like to see him putting in more of an effort to win the ball back when possession has been conceded and chasing it down when there's a need to press.

And don't be fooled by the assist stat that keeps being banded about. He's playing for the team with the highest number of successful passes in the league and the highest ratio of shots on target of total (by a mile) and he's 2 assists in front of West Brom's Chris Brunt - it's a positive stat amongst all the negative analysis but it hardly makes him the next Ronaldinho...

Edit:

Some Premiership-only stats for people to discuss -

2009 (when he joined in the winter window)
12 starts, subbed 25%
6 goals, 10 assists

2010/11 (full season with full pre-season)
21 starts, subbed 64%
4 goals, 12 assists

So, almost double the games, still has less goals and he's taken off 2 games out of 3. They're not happy stats - I'd like to see the Arshavin who Wenger bought.

[225_AB]

Agree with a lot of what you say mate. When he first arrived he was more of an unknown, but players do go through spells of poor form. Still as I said 3rd highest assists in prem league. I am sure that he will come good again.

[Mud]

Originally Posted by Captain Chaos

It's like Eboue last season (timely comment, right before the Wigan home game..!) - since 'Boo-gate' he's been a different character

Ah yes I remember that game. I had to forcefully stop you from jumping on the pitch and beating the shit out of him.The only guy more upset then you that day was the Paddy sitting two rows down from us!

As he got subbed off someone threw a full bottle of coke at him!

Originally Posted by Captain Chaos

2009 (when he joined in the winter window)
12 starts, subbed 25%
6 goals, 10 assists

2010/11 (full season with full pre-season)
21 starts, subbed 64%
4 goals, 12 assists

So, almost double the games, still has less goals and he's taken off 2 games out of 3. They're not happy stats - I'd like to see the Arshavin who Wenger bought.

Adding to the above his 2009 stats include the fact that he scored 4 goals in one game....

I was watching some highlights on a champs league game from last season on youtube and he setup 3 of the 4 we scored and looked amazing...shocking to see how he is now.

[yakev724]

[Captain Chaos]

Doesn't half make you wonder how good he'd be without the constant niggling injuries, the guy's a goal machine when he's fully fit!

Originally Posted by Mud

Ah yes I remember that game.........As he got subbed off someone threw a full bottle of coke at him!

LOL remember that, fortunately for EE the guy had an even worse aim than his bloody passing that day!

[MEGA]

Great game yesterday. I went for an all arsenal fantasy league midfield pre-empting the game. Ali Al-Habsi cost me about 20 points yesterday. He was immense: And the only reason the score wasn't 7-0 or worse.

Let's not speak too soon: But our dec/jan form has been most welcome. Assuming we don't get done by shitswitch midweek bweehehe.

[yakev724]

Hope I can get up in 5 hours to watch the match, 0700 kickoff here, honestly a bit unwelcome on a sunday morning...

[pjs]

Cmon you terriers

[MEGA]

Phew. Scraped through. Gutted about Nasri though. Will miss Barca unless there's a miracle..

[225_AB]

Scraped through but in the next round. Shame about Nasri but glimpses that Arshavin might just be getting back in to form. Fabregas was superb when he came on.

[yakev724]

Excellent today, had class and just got through watching.

Wasn't too long ago when the 1st half frustration would have been the end of us (until the 89th minute, that is )

In all seriousness, I think arshavin did well with the time he was given, midfield, though outmuscled, was very fluid to compensate for this, and really looking to see bendtner develop in the next 1-1.5 seasons into an effective weapon. Fun to see some emotion from VP as well.

[MEGA]

I couldn't believe that Arsh didn't start. I really like Rosicky but the injury changed him. He's not a first team player. And I'd hope we sell him in the summer rather than just keep him in the squad for rare Cameos. It will be sad to see the back of him. But he reminds me of Hleb. The ball gets to him, and OK it almost always finds someone else. His passing is very good. But that person will be behind him, or he'll find the pass so slowly that the chance is gone. Our counter attacks are non existent when he is involved.

Arsh had a fantastic game I thought. I am really glad that he got the ball. I hope the second half of his season will continue in this vein.

I think he just needs half a season to shift off Boris the belly ( (c)arseblog) after the summer break. He looks close to the player we signed again now...

[225_AB]

arshavin didnt start as he played on sunday and i suspect will also play saturday against Newcastle. he did well on Sunday in an otherwise poor team performance, he was very good yesterday. Lee mason or more precisely his linno made a huge cock up for the first goal. They showed it on the giant screen at the ground and there was uproar (although almost everyone had seen that he was well offside in real time). We started poorly but controlled the game after 20 minutes. Dont agree with the commentators who suggested that Everton were worth their half time lead. How many saves did our keeper make? whilst we had some oustanding chances. Second half atmosphere was superb.

Downsides, Diaby slows the game down too much. Great player but sometimes he has to release the ball qucikly. Also Song injured a worry and Fab looks like he needs a rest but with Nasri out might be problematic.

Good win. Come on you Gooners.

[MEGA]

Look at the shots for each team

Aslo at 2 seperate points the stats popped up with "possession last 5 minutes" and it was Arsenal 100%.

The commentators I was listening to were bloody atrocious. Desperate to justify Everton's goal and say they deserved something. Arsenal dominated the game from start to finish and would have probably won by a larger margin if not for that "goal" from Saha.

Also he was offside in phase 1 so phase 2 is irrelivent. If even linesmen don't know the offside rule what hope have fans got.

Should have got Sian Massey to explain it to him heh

[yakev724]

LETS GOOOOOO!!!!!!!!

Cut my first class of the semester to watch...let's hope they won't disappoint!!!

[gIzzE]

I can't wait!!

C'mon!!

[jjbirch]

unlucky boys only man u is only the best team in red lol

[gIzzE]

Barcalona are just unreal, their work rate is just breathtaking, they go after every single ball, they put so much pressure on the other team, it is all very impressive.